Lincoln looking for new football coach

LOWER OXFORD – It may not be a surprise, but it is official: Olabaniji (O.J.) Abanishe is out as Lincoln’s head football coach.

“We’re looking for a new head coach and hopefully we’ll be able to identify someone by the end of March,” said LU Athletic Director Dianthia Ford-Kee.

“It wasn’t a surprise,” Abanishe confirmed. “We had talked about it prior to the start of the season and when we struggled, it was a move they felt they had to make.”

The Lions went 1-9 last fall in Abanishe’s fifth and final season at Lincoln. He was hired in 2008 to resurrect a program that had been discontinued for nearly half a century. His overall record (8-42) reflects the inherent difficulties starting a program from scratch, but he helped guide Lincoln through uncharted waters, including a move from NCAA Division III to II in 2010, paving the way for entry into the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

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“I thanked my assistant coaches before I left for helping us get it all started,” Abanishe recalled. “That’s one of those things we can always look back on – regardless of the record – and be proud of.

“We graduated over 95 percent and our retention rate was over 80 percent, so we did a lot of the things we were supposed to do.”

According to several sources, Abanishe’s reign will officially end on Feb. 28th, a date that was negotiated between the coach and Ford-Kee. For now, Abanishe’s three-man coaching staff remains in place, actively wooing players for the next recruiting class.

“We don’t have a vacancy yet and we won’t post the position until we do,” Ford-Kee said. “But there are quite a few good coaches who are already interested from some of the resumes I’ve seen.

“We are looking for someone who can rejuvenate a program that was resurrected from the ground up. We started the program back up with minimal support and now we are moving in a new direction. We have the facilities now and we are hoping to can find someone who fits in with the culture at Lincoln and can change the dynamics.”

The attractiveness of the position has been elevated now that the program has its own on-campus football stadium, which debuted last fall. But Abanishe warned that the long-term success of Lincoln football goes far beyond the new facility.

“The stadium is only part of it. The big thing they have to do is find the resources and really commit to football,” he said.

“We just couldn’t match up with the resources of our opponents. When we first got there, we were led to believe we were going to have at least 28 full (scholarship equivalencies) and then the economy collapsed, or so I was told.

“When your number ones are only as good as other people’s threes, you really can’t be successful. I thought our kids competed with what we had, but come the third and fourth quarters, you can’t do much.”

Throughout Abanishe’s tenure, Lincoln was reportedly able to offer about 10 scholarship equivalencies, which is far below the Division II maximum of 36, and is at the bottom among programs in the CIAA. And due to budget restraints, Abanishe had to serve as his own offensive coordinator.

“As long as your head coach is also the offensive coordinator as well as quarterback and receiver coach, you are going to have issues,” he said. “It’s disappointing because we never got the kind of support for the program we needed.

“I am not going to lie, it took a lot out of me. A couple of my friends in coaching have expressed interest, and I told them they would need a high energy level. The biggest mistake I made was not knowing my own limitations and trying to do a little too much.”

Ford-Kee applauded Abanishe’s efforts in ushering football back into the fold since the program was cut in 1960, but was critical of the team’s direction, particularly as it pertained to offensive balance. During the 2012 campaign, the Lions gained more than five times more yardage through the air (2,968) than on the ground (567). And the defense surrendered an average of 47.9 points per game.

“A lot of things play into whether a coach and his style is a good fit at a particular institution,” said Ford-Kee, who came to Lincoln after Abanishe. “I just don’t think (Lincoln) was a good fit for (Abanishe). That doesn’t mean it can’t happen somewhere else.

“We have not been able to consistently put points on the board. And this past season, our defense was quite worn down having to constantly go back on the field after four downs. We need to be stronger on the offensive side, which means more balance, so that we can make strides on both sides of the ball.”

Lincoln prevailed over George Mason 34-7 in its first outing under Abanishe in 2008. The Lions also topped arch-rival Cheyney in 2009 and 2010, and went a respectable 3-12 against CIAA foes since 2011. His overall record versus conference opponents was 3-19.

A Kennett Square resident, Abanishe is planning to move to the Dallas-Fort Worth area to resume coaching at the high school level along with his wife, Hartford, and two young daughters.